A way back home
by MemiSkyPirate
Summary: Deadpool's teleporter failed and took him and Spiderman to an alternate universe.
1. Newcomers

After a particularly difficult battle against a HYDRA faction that had left them bloody, bruised and tired, both agreed to use Wade's teleporter to get them home to mend their wounds and cuddle their tiredness away, but as soon as the light enveloped them, they sensed that something had gone horribly wrong. Instead of their living-room in Queens, the sight that greeted them was that of a camp entrance, where they could see a bunch of armoured kids training with all kinds of swords, bows and spears, and even hand-to-hand combat. Kids who stopped dead in their tracks when they caught sight of a really beaten up masked man with a tattered suit, carrying a second one, missing his right arm, his left leg and several chunks of his chest and seemingly bleeding himself to death.

"I'm going to take a long shot here… and say that we are not in Queens, baby boy," Wade grunted. Peter could only agree. Whatever that place was, it made his spider sense go haywire, sensing the power that irradiated from the campers kids in matching orange T-shirts. It was buzzing at the base of his skull. They didn't know who all these teenagers were, but they outnumbered them and were extremely powerful, some of them even bloodthirsty.

It was something neither of them had ever seen before.

They saw one of the campers running off somewhere and shouting something about getting someone while two mounted figures were cautiously galloping towards them. Peter's grip on Wade's waist tightened and he tried to remember when during the teleportation could he have hit his head and started hallucinating, because there was no way he could believe his eyes.

"No fucking way." Wade gasped. For once, it seemed like the Merc with a Mouth had been rendered speechless. He turned to Peter, wanting him to confirm that everything was alright and it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but, seeing how tense the vigilante's grip on his thigh was and how tight he was holding his hand, Wade knew he had no choice but come to terms with the fact that it was not a mounted person who stood before them but, in fact a _centaur_ , a creature he had always thought a myth. From the waist up, he was a middle-age man with bushy eyebrows and beard and greying hair, wearing a frayed tweed jacket, but from the waist down, instead of two human legs, a white stallion body stood, towering over them. Behind him, hugging him by the waist was a tall and slender teenager. Her fiery red hair was messy and with many splatters of paint, so were her face and clothes. She jumped off the creature's back and, never leaving its side, looked at Peter and Wade in the eyes as if she was trying to find something in there. She seemed content with what she saw, because she whispered something into the centaur's ear and it nodded.

"If you were able to get here, it means that you are able to see through the Mist. My name is Chiron," the creature greeted them. Behind him, a group of people had already formed and the rest of the campers were rapidly approaching them, murmuring among each other and glancing towards the strangers. "The Oracle has deemed them worthy." Chiron announced to the group behind him. "Will, Clarisse, take them to the infirmary. Leo and Piper, go get the rest of the cabin leaders. We will have an emergency meeting with the rest of the counsellors afterwards. In the meantime, why don't you tell us who you are and how you got here?"

"And what's the deal with the costumes?" someone shouted and laughter ensued.

"He kicks the bad guys' asses on a daily basis and you _don't know_ him? Shame on you, kids." Wade raised his head and started talking before Peter could even attempt to stop him. The blood loss was making Wade's brain fuzzy and was having even less control over his words than usual. Wade smooched his temple over the mask."This guy with the cute spandex butt is my baby-boy!" Wade exclaimed happily and rested his head on Peter's. "New York's very own wall-crawler, the Amazing Spiderman!" he laughed and tried to kiss Peter's cheek where the mask was ragged, but the younger man refused, a deep blush appearing on his cheeks.

"I shouldn't have reattached your jaw," Peter muttered, annoyed, but still refused to let his boyfriend go when the campers approached them. "Guide us, we'll follow."

"As for me…"

"Shut up, Deadpool," Peter grunted as they followed the ever-growing crowd across strawberry fields until they reached a big blue wooden house, where a group of similar-looking blond boys and girls promptly rushed them to an enormous infirmary with dozens of beds, some of them occupied. They were lay on the far end of the ward and were stripped off their suits, though both of them refused to have their masks removed. Wade was the most reluctant one and tried to have Peter healed first. One of the campers started singing a song and soon enough, Peter was out like a light. Wade was not so lucky. The voices kept him wide awake.

"Only members of the Apollo Cabin and Chiron will stay here. The rest, out." Will commanded and closed the doors. He then formed groups of three, two demigods and a satyr, and assigned one group to each of the newcomers. Despite not having the luxury of using nectar and ambrosia to help them heal faster- after all, they were mortal and the gods' food would turn them into ashes-, they worked quickly and efficiently, disinfecting and stitching the wounds. Will applied tourniquets to stop Deadpool's bleeding and did his best to ignore his very vocal arguing to leave him alone and that he would be fine on his own. Will was used to dealing with demigods trying to act strong and independent and refusing to get proper treatment. If he could make Nico di Angelo shut up and let him do his job, he could certainly heal this guy. Will frowned as he disinfected Deadpool's chest wounds and prepared a needle to start stitching him up. After years of quests and wars, he was immune to seeing nasty scars, but the ones that covered every inch of the stranger's body were something he had never seen before. They _shifted_ across his chest. Will nearly jumped out of his skin and dropped the needle when he saw the wounds on his chest starting to close by themselves, right before his eyes.

A healing factor was something he was not prepared for. Not at all. Will was astonished. It was the first time he had ever seen someone healing that way besides Percy Jackson, but that only happened when he was near water, because of the whole being a child of Poseidon thing. Maybe this man was an unclaimed demigod? But then, why didn't the nectar work?

"Told ya. I'll be fine." The man rose up and got rid of the tourniquets, his legs already re-growing. "Give it a couple of hours. The nerves are always the ones that take the longest to regenerate. T'comes in handy when you are on battle, though." he tried to laugh it off but his voice was strained and full of feelings. Anger, regret, fear… Sadness. "Hey, do you think you and the rest could turn around for a minute or two? I need to change my mask. The one I'm using is no more and I wouldn't want to traumatize you." He wasn't asking. He grabbed his belt and opened one of its pouches, taking out two new masks. The first one was black and red, the second was red and blue with a web pattern. Everyone did as they were told and turned their backs on the scarred man.

Will heard a rustle and a zip being closed before he decided to slowly turn around. The man had his new mask on and the holes on his chest were no more than a memory. He used his hands to lift himself up and get more comfortable before answering.

"How is he?" he asked, suddenly concerned, looking at the sleeping figure in front of him. The healers had just finished mending his wounds and was left to rest and to recover their energies. Spiderman was on the bed opposite to his, snoring softly. Wade smiled. "It's been a long time since I've seen him sleeping so peacefully. I could use some sleep too."

"I could sing, if you want." Will offered.

"Nah, kid. Thanks anyway. It won't work on me. But you can put these by his side, so he can change it when he wakes up." Deadpool gave him the red and blue mask and then turned his back on Will.

Will complied and went out of the infirmary. He went to the room where Chiron, Rachel and the other counsellors were gathering. They had a lot to discuss and would want all the details about the newcomers.

Will and the others came back to the infirmary right after the camp activities ended. They brought with them two orange T-shirts, jeans and shoes from the camp store for the masked men to wear. At the meeting, Will explained what he had seen and shared his theory about them being unclaimed demigods. Annabeth frowned deeply at the mention of Spiderman but said nothing. Both Nico and Percy were curious about Deadpool's self-healing abilities. Clarisse was amazed by his bloodlust and was excited about fighting them both. The rest of them were wary and just listened to what Will had to say. They had all agreed to have them at dinner so they could introduce themselves officially. Maybe they would be claimed by their godly parent. If not, they would take them to the Big House where they would decide what they would do with them.

Once they entered the infirmary, they approached the two beds at the far end of the room, where the men were still sleeping. They had changed their masks. Will took a deep breath and reached out to softly shake Spiderman's shoulder, as he was the nearest one but just before Will could touch him, Spiderman jumped out of the bed and clung to the ceiling on all fours. Annabeth screamed, jolting Deadpool awake. He too got out of bed and adopted a defensive stance – the same the counsellors adopted – until they registered where they were. Everyone choked a scream or gasped when they saw Deadpool standing in his boxers. Some of them had only heard about him appearing without his legs, but Rachel, Leo, Piper, Will and Clarisse had seen him like that. They all looked up when they heard a rustle and they saw that Spiderman had retreated to the far corner of the ceiling, scanning the group of people that had arrived.

"Come back down, baby boy, before you reopen those." Deadpool smiled, pointing at Spiderman's bandages. "Don't make me get a broom like last time." He looked at Deadpool, the white of his masked eyes mimicking his blinking for a moment before jumping from his cornered spot and swiftly landing on Deadpool's shoulders. "That's my baby boy!" he patted his legs.

Will cleared his throat and interceded. "We brought you some clean clothes, seeing as your costumes are all ragged and bloody. It's almost dinner time and we wanted you to come." The two of them thanked the campers and quickly got dressed. Never once did they remove their masks.

"Thanks for the clothes and the invitation." Peter bowed his head in appreciation. "We look forward to dinner."

Will nodded. "There are also some things we have to explain to you before we leave. About this camp and its members. And we have some questions for you." He waited until they nodded slowly. "This is a camp for special people. We are half-bloods. One of our parents is a mortal. The other one, is a god." It was never easy to break that kind of news to people and Will expected the masked men to laugh and be incredulous about it, but he and the rest of the counsellors were baffled when the newcomers spoke.

"Well, looks like Thor was right," said Spiderman and the other two nodded, amused.

"Thor?" asked Annabeth, surprised. "As in Norse god Thor?"

"Yeah, the pretty blond in tights and a hammer. I wouldn't say no if he came and…"

"Deadpool..." Spiderman warned, interrupting his ramble.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Gods and humans, the birds and the bees. That's cool."

"So, you can be a child of any god?" asked Spiderman, amazed.

"No." Rachel shook her head. "This is a Greek camp, only children of the Olympians can stay here. Each god has a Cabin where their kids live and train, and each Cabin has a Head, a counsellor. That's them." She turned to the group at her sides. "Before we leave, we wanted to introduce ourselves formally. My name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I'm the current vessel for the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi."

Will stepped forward and offered his hand to the duo. "My name is Will Solace, son of Apollo, god of Sun, Music and Medicine."

"Thank you for patching us up." Will could tell they were smiling under their masks as they bowed their heads. He shook hands with each of them. Their grip was firm. "You brought us to the infirmary, too." Spiderman offered his hand to Clarisse.

"Yeah. I'm Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, god of War, Violence and Bloodlust." Her grip was stronger than they had expected and much shorter. Her eyes were defiant, challenging. She wanted to see how much it would take for her to defeat them in a fight. She puffed her chest and straightened her back, trying to appear bigger, broader, much more threatening. When she turned to Deadpool, she liked his name and his smell -he reeked of blood and death-, she was greeted with a pat on her head and a deep laugh from him.

"I like this one." he stated. He lifted his mask just above his nose, so she could see a heavily scarred jaw and very white teeth. She promised herself she would tear down his smile tooth by tooth. "She looks like she can put up a good fight." She shooed his hand away and glared at him before retreating.

A couple then stepped forward, their hands intertwined. "I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, God of blacksmiths and fire." He said with a huge smile on his face. "And I'm Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of Love." She greeted them with her free hand. Her voice was soft and gentle and it made the masked men relax a little.

One by one, all the counsellors greeted them. Some of them were friendly, others were merely cordial and a few were cautious towards them. The trio tried their best to keep up with all the names and abilities of the gods. Even with their prior mythology knowledge, they felt overwhelmed. There were so many.

Finally, the last three demigods walked over to them to introduce themselves and Deadpool, and Spiderman were greeted by an enormous wave of power that made their shoulders tense and to adopt a discreet defensive stance. They were three. A tall blond with eyes as blue as the sky itself, with a military aura surrounding him –he was also the only one who was wearing a purple shirt instead of an orange one and matching purple-framed glasses- "I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, god of the skies."; a tanned, dark haired boy with stormy green eyes that glistened with trouble. "My name is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, god of the sea."

"Nico di Angelo." the last one stated simply. He was dangerously thin and ghostly pale. He had dark eyes and even darker shadows underneath. When Deadpool met his gaze, he felt terribly uncomfortable and felt the urge to look away, his hand tingling when they touched.

"You smell like death." Deadpool finished and watched as the kid tensed his shoulders. Nico held his hand a little too long and scrutinized him. Deadpool could feel his heart beating fast and loudly in his chest. He dropped his hand and seemed to fall into a deep thought. "But Death – she didn't tell me she got a kid… Of course she would have told me if she did… Wow. That was _so_ uncalled for, White." He was talking to himself. "Wait. Repeat that, Yellow. No, not that stupid song. What you said about…" Deadpool gasped and turned to the counsellors, fixing his gaze on the group in front of him, the demigods looked at him suspiciously. "Yo, guys, answer me this: Does the name Avengers ring a bell to you? No? Good, they are all a bunch of assholes –except for you, baby boy-." He turned his head to Spiderman. "Focus, Deadpool. Think about this for a minute, guys. No one here recognised our names or suits. Death has a kid. I'm betting my chimichanga nights that if we go to Queens right now, neither our safe houses no May will be there." He said, his voice serious.

"…What do you mean, Deadpool?" He asked, his voice almost a whisper.

"Look, the Ponydude here is real, something we have never seen in our lives. And we have seen all kinds of weird. I'm starting to think that my teleporter did not just not take us to Queens. I don't think we are even in our universe." The two of them looked at each other and frowned. The whole group fell silent, trying to process what Deadpool had just said.

"We should probably go now." Rachel cleared her throat and clapped her hands, trying to lighten the dark atmosphere. "Dinner is about to start." She urged everybody out of the infirmary. "We will be waiting outside."

Neither of them dared to speak a word.

"We… won't be sure until we go there but… If that's true…?" Wade trailed off.

"We will cross that bridge when we get there." Peter cut him off, pressing their foreheads together. "Wade, come here." He pulled the other man closer and hugged him tight. He felt a pair of arms covering him and the warmth of the older man enveloped him. He lifted his mask just above the nose and leaned over, joining their lips. It was an urgent, hungry kiss. He tried to bring them closer, pouring his fear, his anger, and his anxiety on the kiss and in the way he clung onto him. Wade's lips were rough, calloused. Peter's were soft and tender. The contrast was something that had always driven them crazy. It was an addiction. "We will go and check it out tonight, okay?" After a few minutes, they pulled apart, both of them out of breath, gasping for air with their foreheads touching. "The two of us? We are in this together until the end." They agreed and exited the infirmary after one last silent kiss.


	2. Realisation

Everyone grew quiet at the sight of them -they had decided not to take their masks off yet and Wade had always felt safer with his katanas strapped on his back. The dining pavilion was located on a hill that overlooked the sea. It was framed in Greek columns where torches were hung and blazed and a central fire was burning, bathing everything in an orange glow. The duo was showed to one of the many tables, where Chiron was talking to a chubby-faced guy, with a bright red nose, curly black hair and blue, bloodshot eyes. He introduced himself simply as Mr. D, the camp director. "You will introduce yourselves to the rest of the campers and will answer some of their questions at the campfire," he didn't ask. He ordered.

They were fairly surprised to see not only nymphs and satyrs sitting at the table, but also the delicious food that kept magically appearing on their plates and their goblets seemed to never empty. They did not miss the hushed conversations nor the stolen glances directed at them all along the dinner. Once the last scraps of food were thrown into the fire –an offering for the gods, they were told-, the campers explained that, on Tuesdays, after dinner there was an unarmed combat session and that the two of them were invited to participate. They then left the dining pavilion and headed together to the arena while Clarisse explained the rules. Demigods would get paired up and the first to be rendered unconscious or incapacitated would lose. Even though neither of them was exactly eager to fight with a group of mere teenagers, Wade found it interesting; Peter, not so much.

"But seeing as this is a special occasion, we've decided to level it up a bit. The demigod have been paired up with will be among the counsellors." She exclaimed with a wide grin and…

 _ **Hey, writer lady! A word, please!**_

 _What the… Wade? Dude, I'm in the middle of writing._

 _ **We both know you are either avoiding homework or ignoring your professor's lectures.**_

 _Wow, rude! Anyway, what do you want? You've already ruined the moment._

 _ **I wanted to ask a favour. Can I get paired up with her? Please?**_

 _With Clarisse? No. You don't deserve it._

 _ **Pretty please with cherries on top? You look dashing today, you know?**_

 _Ugh, Ok. But for the record, you are an asshole._

"Come on, Deadpool, chill. They are just kids." Peter was having a hard time restraining the older man and putting Wade's weapons away from him. How and where on earth Wade hid those, Peter still hadn't found the answers to. "It was just an exercise."

It had been an intense session. Peter had been paired up with Annabeth and Wade with Clarisse. Peter won his encounter. Always careful with his enhanced strength, Peter took advantage of an opening in her defences and twisted her arms behind her back and sat on top of her but Annabeth resulted a fearsome opponent. Her mother wasn't called the Goddess of Strategy and Battles for nothing. She blocked most of his punches and could keep up with his speed -at least for a while. His senses and reflexes were far more superior to hers. Their combat ended after fifteen minutes, both panting and sweating. He had a split lip and he knew he would be bruised all over in the morning. Annabeth, on the other hand, walked with a limp, result of a kick, and wrapped an arm around her ribs. They would hurt for a while. Her eyes shone with respect and a small desire of vengeance. Peter helped her on her feet and she nodded her head in appreciation.

He offered to walk her to the medical tent near the arena. He left her with one of the healers and focused his attention on Wade's fight and was surprised when he noted that his mercenary boyfriend was having a very hard time countering the punches and kicks that were systematically thrown at him. The daughter of Ares fought like a demon; her knuckles red and a crazy gleam on her eyes. She had blood running down her nose and a swollen eye; Wade had lost at least four teeth and his nose was broken.

Their fight lasted almost an hour and it ended when Wade fell unconscious after a well delivered blow to his already injured nose. He saw black spots and everything went dark. Peter rushed to his boyfriend's side and promptly took him to a nearby bench. He put Wade's nose on its place and declined the camper's help when they came to take him to the healing tent. The healing factor kicked in a few moments later and everyone stared in shock the way his wounds closed and how his teeth grew back by themselves in a matter of minutes.

The problem was when Wade woke up.

"My healing factor does not work on my ego." Wade grumbled. "You are _so_ paying for this."

"Come on, dude, give her a rest."

"I'm not talking about Clarisse. I'm talking about that fucker." He snarled, piercing the wall in front of his with his eyes. His demeanour changed in the blink of an eye. "I want to adopt this one. She sure knows how to throw a punch. Can we adopt her, baby boy? Please?"

"No." said two voices in unison.

On the distance, a horn was blown, announcing the end of the day.

"It's time for the campfire. Everyone, let's go." Chiron guided everyone to the amphitheatre, where a huge bonfire shone brightly with orange flames. There were several benches scattered around it. "Today was an intense day. For the first time, we have two mortals sitting among us. Two mortals unlike any we've seen before. We would like you to introduce yourselves and share some stories with the campers, if you'd like." Peter and Wade shifted awkwardly on their bench under the intense scrutiny of dozens of eyes. They looked at each other and clasped their hands tightly.

"Why –why don't you… ask us and stuff?" Peter had never really gotten over his social awkwardness. Spiderman was the confident, chatty one, not him. It was really hard for Peter to be in the spotlight and, after the events of the day and the not-so-impossible scenario that Wade had presented, he was feeling more and more like Peter Parker rather than his alter ego.

Many hands rose up in the air and Chiron, sensing Peter's struggle and mild distress, decided to act as the mediator. He let one of the counsellors, Annabeth speak first.

"Just, what… who are you? I noticed during our fight that you weren't using all of your strength." Her grey eyes seemed to pierce Peter, reaching his very soul. "And how did you do that back at the infirmary?" He noticed the slightest of shivers running down her back.

He cleared his throat and squeezed Wade's hand before answering, "I'm Spiderman." He held her gaze and saw that she wanted to keep on asking. "And this is Deadpool. We are heroes." Someone snickered at the last statement. "I was bitten by a radioactive spider when I was fifteen and I mutated." There was no mistaking it this time, the campers sitting at her table all paled at his words.

"What do you mean you are heroes? Do you do anything else?" asked the next camper, Leo.

"Maybe a more accurate term is "vigilantes". We protect our city from criminals. There's not really much to say besides that. That's the reason for the masks and why we can't give you our names just yet. To protect ourselves and those we care about." He stayed silent for a while. I'm a college student." Peter scratched his head. "Biophysics." There were some impressed murmurs. Wade remained silent.

Will was the next in line to ask. He looked up at Wade.

"Your wounds… Last night and just now in the arena, you healed almost instantly. I've never seen anything like that before… How does it work? How did you get it?" As soon as he had finished, he saw Deadpool's change in demeanour and realised, to his horror, that he had made an enormous mistake and had crossed a line.

Wade tensed his shoulders and his eyes darkened a little at the reminder of the Weapon X program. He tried to ignore the flow of memories that threatened to invade his mind and started breathing heavily. "I don't like to talk about it. Next," he snapped. Peter knew about it and the toll it had taken on Wade. He squeezed his shoulder tightly, trying to reassure the older man that he was nowhere near that awful place.

After a few minutes, Wade had calmed down and they resumed with the questions. How old they were -Peter was 26 and Wade was 34-; if they were sure there weren't demigods -100% sure they were not-; if Spiderman was willing to show the rest of the campers his powers. Peter, after his boyfriend's insistence, agreed to it and, after asking for the Athena cabin not to freak out, took off his shoes and walked over the nearest tree and started climbing it, using only his bare feet. Once he got to the top, he used his web shooters to swing himself and created a simple spider web between two oaks and rested in the middle of it. Applauses and cheers erupted among the campers -even from the children of Athena. He was feeling confident and, as his final trick, he crawled down and flicked his wrists, hitting Wade right on the chest and pulled hard. Wade, not expecting it, was unable to react and couldn't dodge in time and was shot forward, landing at Peter's side upside down on the web. Peter wasted no time in wrapping him with his webs.

Wade laughed as he tried to free himself, but discovered that Peter had done a very good job. The cocoon was tightly weaved and did not provide any freedom of movement, at all. "Well, this certainly brings back memories." he laughed and wiggled his would-be eyebrows suggestively.

"It will dissolve soon enough. Have fun." Peter kissed his cheek and winked at his boyfriend and made his way back to the bench, ignoring the "Wait, what?" shouted at his back. Once he sat, Chiron and Mr. D looked amused and nodded their heads in appreciation.

"Are you soulmates?" a little boy, no older than 9 who was sitting on Piper's lap, blurted out. The campers looked mortified and tried to apologise on his behalf, saying they did not need to answer that. Peter could feel his face warm and he knew that, with his mask still rolled up just above his nose, everyone could see him turning red. There was a laugh, followed by a loud thud and a grunt. Wade had managed to free himself from the cocoon but landed on his head. He got up and trotted back to the bonfire. He sat next to Peter and threw his arms around his shoulders. "That's a story for when you are all grown up." Wade winked.

Peter decided to step in the conversation before Wade said something no child should hear. "What he's trying to say is that yes, we are soulmates." Peter smiled at the little boy who seemed content with the answer and started fidgeting with some pieces of metal.

After that, they shared a couple of stories of adventures they had had and, in exchange, the demigods told them a few of theirs until it was time to the campers to go back to their cabins to sleep. Everybody waved the duo goodbye and they took that opportunity to talk to Chiron about their plan to go to the city.

"Chiron, we know it's late but we need to go to the city. We need to confirm something and we think it would be best if we did it at night," Peter spoke.

"To confirm whether this is your universe or not." the centaur was not asking.

"Yes."

"Although it is not allowed for the campers to leave at this hour, you are not demigods, so I cannot stop you. I'll let you go on one condition. Follow me." He turned and headed towards the cabins. They wanted to ask what the condition was, but something told them that he would not answer. He stopped at the limits of the cabins and asked them to wait there for a bit and he left, only to come back four minutes later with two counsellors.

"You can go to the city, but you have the smell of demigods on your clothes. It could attract monsters. They will have to accompany you." He said as he pointed at each boy at his side.

"But Chiron," Nico, the pale one, protested "we are children of the Big Three. Our scent is the strongest. Even more so when we are together. It will be much more dangerous if we go with them."

"I took that into account, but they don't know how to fight monsters and if I send only one of you, the other will follow one way or another. Am I wrong?" He looked at them with an eyebrow raised. He seemed to already know the answer. "Go and you will have tomorrow off." he smiled and left.

"Well, I'm never one to refuse extra sleep so, let's go." Nico ushered as he fastened a black sword to his hip.

"Wait, Nico." The green-eyed boy, Percy, pointed. "We have to talk about how we are getting there. Argus will not take us at this hour and we don't have enough money to call a taxi. Not to mention that Blackjack and the others don't really trust you and you can't shadow travel with all of us."

Nico frowned. "You are right… Styx."

"I have a teleporter…" Wade started.

"Deadpool," Peter cut him "your teleporter is the reason we ended up here in the first place. It is out of question." Wade pouted but added nothing else. "How about go in pairs?" The demigods looked at him suspiciously. "Look, we understand you not trusting us and we didn't want to get you involved in this. We have the address, you have the means of transport. The faster we move, the faster we can come back and, hopefully, the two of us will be gone by next morning."

The teenagers exchanged gazes and nodded.

"Okay, I'll go with Deadpool," Nico commented. "Pegasi get nervous around those who smell like death and this guy just reeks of it. We will shadow-travel."

"And I will take Spiderman with me. I'm sure Blackjack and Guido will be happy to go on a mission together." Percy smirked.

"Wait, pegasi? You are planning to ride to Queens?" Wade tilted his head and looked beyond confused.

"Flying is the fastest way to travel," Percy laughed. "Let's head to the stables."

They marched in tranquil silence under the bright stars, the sounds of the nearby forest and their footsteps the only disruption. A light breeze flew around them, giving them goose bumps and making them walk a little closer to each other, looking for some shared warmth. They followed the demigods across the camp and headed towards a big wooden building near a cliff. The sound of hooves and the specific smell indicated that they had arrived. Percy asked everybody to wait there and opened the door, disappearing inside for a couple of minutes, only to come back with two magnificent creatures that left Peter and Wade mesmerized, their mouths hanging slightly.

"Are you telling me these guys are real? Like, flesh and blood real?" Wade squealed and tried to touch the black one, only to have him retreat nervously and neigh. "The only ones I've seen, were robots. Full of missiles and shit… Indeed, Yellow. She'd _love_ one of these," he whispered and he stepped back.

Peter slowly approached towards Percy and the pegasi. The one in the middle was a pure black stallion; it was nuzzling against Percy's shoulder but its eyes never left the two men. He stopped a few meters away and waited for the green-eyed boy to tell them what to do next. He called the other horse, Guido, and told him to get closer to the masked man and to let him mount himthem. The two of them studied the newcomers for a moment before letting Peter pet Guido's necks, his white coat seemed to glimmer under the moonlight. It felt soft to the touch and he could feel the firm muscles underneath and even his pulse.

Peter let out a nervous laugh and hopped swiftly on the beautiful creature's back, right behind his wings. Peter promptly thanked them for the job and that seemed to lighten the rigid posture of the white stallion, who neighed merrily. Peter gave Percy the address they needed to go to; Percy mounted the black pegasus, who he called Blackjack and gave instructions to him and his friend and then he told Peter to hold the horse's necks and to relax.

"We should get going, though," Nico urged. "Before the harpies arrive."

The other demigod nodded and told Peter to prepare himself. Percy gave the signal and Blackjack started running towards the cliff, extending his wings until his hooves were galloping through the air instead of ground. Guido followed behind and his rider could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins. It was somewhat different from swinging with his web-shooters but he liked it nonetheless.

Wade and Nico watched them until they were nothing more than dots in the sky.

"Let's go," the pale guy commanded. And walked to the entrance of the forest, where the top of the trees stopped any moonlight to filter through their branches, enveloping everything in darkness. "Tie this around your waist and, under absolutely no circumstances you can let go of my jacket. Otherwise you will be lost in the shadows forever. Am I clear?"

"Aye." Wade mocked a military salute and swiftly tied the rope as the demigod said.

"And not talking. At all," Nico added, earning a pout from the older man and reluctantly obeyed. "At my signal, you jump. Two… Three… Four. Now!" Both of them jumped and Wade could feel the shadows engulfing them, drowning the stars and every sound around them. Even the warmth seemed to abandon them. Including the voices in his head. His grip on Nico's shoulder tightened as they navigated across the most absolute darkness Wade has ever felt; the touch was the only way he had to know that the demigod was still with him. To feel that he was still there. Wade lost track of time and any sense of direction. He wanted to say something, anything, but, for once, the Merc with the Mouth decided to follow orders and shut the hell up.

After what felt like decades, he felt a hand grab his gloved wrist and pulled him closer.

They found themselves in an alley.

Wade shivered and rubbed his hands against his arms, trying to get rid of the cold that seemed to have settled deep down inside his bones. "That was colder than Shiklah's shoulder after…" {[The divorce]} his boxes replied Wade ignored them and turned his gaze to the sky. There was no sign of the others yet.

"Who's Shiklah?" Nico tilted his head in confusion.

"My ex-wife."

"You were married?" Wade snorted at the demigod's incredulous tone.

[Of course he wouldn't believe you.]

{Yeah, neither did him. Nor us.}

[She was way too beautiful for us. We knew it wouldn't last.]

{Like she could really have loved something other than his bloodlust…

{[Because that hideous face of his sure as hell not.]}

 _ **Shut up.**_

"Yeah, and then divorced. Look! There they are!" Wade changed the subject and started waving his arms at the figures that had just landed on a nearby rooftop. Peter used his web-shooters to get him and Percy to the ground. The pegasi were left on the rooftop, grooming themselves. They crossed the street and met Wade and Nico on the alley. It was the alley right next to the building where Peter and Wade's apartment was. They all breathed in deep and headed to the front door. Wade picked the lock and the four of them walked across the hallway and up the stairs until they reached the fourth floor. They stopped at a particular door. Wade touched the threshold, looking for the panel lock he had installed less than a year ago. He clenched his jaw and turned his hands into fists. "Fuck. Fuck!" he hit the wall.

He found nothing.

"This can't be happening," Peter ran his hands through his head and then tried to rest a hand on Wade'ss shoulders, but the other man shook it off angrily. Peter's heart sank but told himself that it was a normal reaction, that he had no reason to feel hurt. "We could still go to May's house… to the safe houses…" his voice trembled, lacking conviction and filled with dread, quieter than a whisper.

"They will not be there. You know it. We should leave before someone finds us…" Peter said with feigned calm. He grabbed Wade's shoulders firmly and dragged him out of the building, ignoring the way the older man squirmed and tried to break free, but to no avail. Peter was stronger because of his arachnid super-strength. He put Wade down when they reached the alley but did not let him go. He pulled themcloser and hugged tightly, until he returned Wade's embrace. They stayed like that, silently mourning for the situation they were in. Their shoulders started shaking, overwhelmed by the events of the day, tears threatening to roll down their cheeks. They mourned for the people they had left behind and were unsure when -and whether- they would see them again. Ellie, Evan... May, Johnny… They worried about all of them. They needed to find a way… a way back to their universe.


	3. Old Ways

Wade noted that the demigods had crossed the street, letting them have some privacy.

The voices were yelling at him. It was his fault and his fault only that Peter was in this situation. If his teleporter hadn't fucked up, they would have been in their apartment cuddling and not in a dark and smelly alley, crying their hearts out because they were stuck in another universe. They had nothing. No friends, no family, no jobs nor a place to live. Everything they had, everyone they knew were on the place they had no idea how to return to. Wade did not deserve to be hugging the younger man because he was the monster that had caused his distress.

The boxes were merciless.

And they were right.

"It is my fault. I'm sorry," Wade repeated again and again.

"We'll find a way back," Peter said after a few minutes, his voice hoarse. They pulled up their masks, dried their tears and tried to steady their breathing. "For now, let's just go back and get some sleep. We can talk about our options in the morning."

Wade nodded and slowly walked out of the alley and towards the boys who were standing under a street lamp scanning their surroundings, as if making sure there was nothing harmful lurking in the dark. Peter used his web-shooters to get himself Percy to the rooftop. Nico shuffled rather uncomfortably on his feet and tried to avoid conversation with Wade by fixing his eyes on the duo, as they reached the top of the building where they had left the pegasi and watched until they took off. Wade waited until Peter disappeared before he turned to Nico and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I need to make a stop before we return, kid."

Nico shrugged Wade's hand off his shoulder and looked up at him. "What? We should really get back."

"I know, I know." Wade sprinted back into the alley and opened one of the pouches of his belt extracting from it a gun-holder and a ridiculous and improbable amount of guns and knives, which he then proceeded to hide or strap to his hips. "The thing is, I really need to go to this place because I have to confirm one thing and it's crucial that Spidey doesn't know about this yet and you are the only one who can take me there right now because you can do that cool and creepy thing with the shadows and we will attract less attention because, let's be real, a sexy grown man with swords and guns that would put any army to shame, accompanied with a teenager with a sword, walking on one of the poorest neighbourhoods in New York will call unnecessary attention and besides-"

"Okay, dude, shut up and I will take you there," Nico interrupted him. "But on one condition."

"Aye, aye," Wade, once again, mocked a military salute. "Shoot."

"Answer me honestly," He waited until Wade rolled his eyes and crossed his hand with his finger and promised " _on the boy scouts and all that shit_ " "Why do you smell so strongly like death… Why did you call Death a _she_ and said that Death would tell you about having a child?"

Wade tensed his shoulders and knew that Nico could see him frowning even with his mask on. Even after having discovered that Peter was his soulmate and finally being together, Wade still thought about Death from time to time; and longed for what he couldn't have anymore. He had loved her deeply and cherished the times he had died and had had dates with Death.

"Tough questions, kid," He tried to laugh it off. "Before I start, let's make one thing clear. Under no circumstances can you tell anybody about this. _Capisce_?" He smiled a dark, dangerous smile before seeing Nico nod and returning to his usual, cheerful tone. "Back home, Death is like, a real entity. She, he, it, Death is beyond that, so I called her whatever she felt like that time. Sometimes Death would be a she, sometimes an it. Everything was cool. We used to date. In my old line of work, the chances of death were certain. Not so much for me, but for the other people." he chuckled. "Sometimes I died too, and I would have dates with Death until I came back to life. We were happy. That's why I knew we weren't on our universe, because Death would have surely told me, or I would have noticed, if she had a _son_. Now that I know that we are not on my universe, I need to check if I had been here before, you know, multiverse-travel and all that shit, and that's why I need you to take me to this particular place. Now tie me up and off we go!"

"Wait, what?" Nico was frozen in his place, gaping and looking at the older man with a shocked expression. "You _died_? Several times and had dates with Death? You _got divorced_ from Death?"

"I can't get divorced from who I never married, kid." Wade started tying the rope around his waist and shoulders. He hummed a tune from a song he did not quite remember the name of.

"But you said..."

"I got married way after everything with Death ended. I told you before, her name wa—is Shiklah. She's not dead, so her name _is_ Shiklah. A succubus, you know what I mean? A total hottie with her mind control and soul-sucking kisses – which I was immune to because of the whole crazy unkillable deal. And she's the queen of monsters and all that shit. So that makes me the ex-king now? Well, I answered your questions and now you have to take me to this place." Wade reached down and whispered the address to Nico's ear. Nico nodded and summoned the shadows once more.

[Writer lady can't even come up with a fake address?]

{*Sigh* what did you expect, White? She doesn't even live in the US.}

Once again, they were engulfed by the darkness and they began floating across it without a word said between them. Wade realized he kind of liked the coldness the shadows provided. It numbed his senses and thus it numbed the pain of his scars. It's been a long time since he had felt so painless. It…

{[It feels like _death_ …]}

Wade felt a hand tugging at the rope and he prepared himself to land in the middle of an unlit, dirty street. In front of them was a tattered building with shuttered windows and an old, rickety iron door.

"I'm kinda regretting this." Nico frowned.

"You'll be all right, kid," Wade walked towards the door. "Just don't speak unless you are told to, don't leave my sight and don't look anyone in the eyes and you'll be fine." He knocked the door. "And if anyone asks, you are my apprentice, so think of a nickname." The door opened slightly before Nico could protest.

"The masked ball is next month." a voice snorted from the creak of the door.

"What is red and black and red and black all over?" Wade said, ignoring the comment.

"… Someone who's been dead for years. I don't know how you know that or who you think you are but fuck off," the voice snapped.

"Deadpool's never been more alive. Now let me in, cuddle cakes. I gotta see her."

He didn't wait for the person behind the door to open up. He barged in through it with Nico closely behind. They could hear the voice calling them and telling them to stop but Wade made deaf ears to it and continued walking down the hallway until it opened and they suddenly found themselves inside a big room filled with tables and a bar on the furthest wall. Low music could be heard through the speakers and the hushed chatting among the people present came to a halt when they caught sight of the newcomers. Some of them snickered and some of them threw dangerous glares at Wade. He ignored them and walked straight to the bar, Nico never leaving his side.

The bartender raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you too old for trick-or-treating?"

"There's no such thing as 'too old'. I came to see your boss, sugarbun." The bartender laughed humourlessly and looked at Wade right in the white of his mask. She had a gun pointed at his abdomen.

"I don't know who you think you are or where you got that costume, but if you don't leave immediately..."

"Tell her Deadpool's back." he interrupted her.

"Deadpool's been dead for years. And he was never seen without his costume." She frowned and then pressed her gun to his chest. "My patience is wearing thin." Wade noticed how the rest of the clients slowly got up from their seats and unsheathed their weapons. He also noticed Nico tensing beside him and tightening the grip on his sword.

"… Deadpool?" A brown-skinned woman appeared from behind a curtain. She wore silver glasses, which she hastily took off and cleaned with the hem of her white blouse. She put them back on and gasped, raising a hand to her mouth. "That's not possible! I – I saw you..."

"You are as beautiful as the day you had my head cut off, Alessia." Wade smiled and opened his arms, inviting her for a hug. She didn't dare get any closer from where she stood. Nico tensed and shot his gaze up to the masked man's face.

"B-but h-how…?" She looked at him with big round eyes, gripping the curtains tightly.

"I wasn't called the Regenerating Degenerate for nothing, sugar," Wade winked at her. He thought he heard a clicking sound behind him. "Anyway, you have something I need and you want me not to tear down your clients limb by limb so, let's talk business, shall we? Don't mind me, I know where the office is. Let's go, kid." He started walking towards the stunned old woman but, suddenly and without further warning, he turned and grabbed Nico's shoulders and pressed him against his chest, shielding him just as the first shots were fired. The bullets pierced through his back and Wade roared a curse. Still shielding the boy with his body, Wade stumbled forward and fell on one knee. "I still feel them inside and I think they pierced my fucking lungs. You okay, kid?" Nico nodded. He could hear the blood dripping on the floor.

Alessia raised a hand and everything went quiet. She wasn't trembling any longer. Everyone tensed and waited.

"You know the rules. You cannot shoot here unless I order it. Leave," She commanded to the group that had shot Wade. "And you… hurry up," She said and disappeared through the curtains.

Wade felt his healing factor kicking almost immediately – thanks to the copious dinner he had had and the quality of the food– pushing the bullets out of his body before the wounds started closing. He groaned a curse that would put any sailor to shame as he tensed his shoulders until he heard little droppings on the wooden floor. He was going to need a new shirt.

Nico freed himself from his embrace and helped Wade on his feet. "You have so much explaining to do when we leave," he growled before letting him go. His hand never left his sword " _Gods_."

They walked along yet another corridor where they saw the only opened door and got inside the big office. Alessia was waiting for them behind a big desk with a Scotch on her hand. The walls were covered in bookshelves and scenery paintings. She just pointed the two chairs in front of her and waited for them to sit.

"This—Things are not supposed to work this way…" She rubbed her temple with her free hand and took a sip at her glass.

Wade took a red crayon out of his pouch and grabbed a piece of paper from Alessia's desk. "Things for me have never worked the way they were supposed to, cuddle cakes." He rested a boot on his left knee and used his thigh as a support and started doodling.

"There's no denying that it is really you. That healing of yours has always given me the creeps and so did that strange belt; never understood how you could keep so much shit in there... How can you still be alive, Wade?" She frowned. "And who's the boy? Last time I checked, you were a loner, and you weren't gone long enough to have a kid of your own."

Wade roared a laughter, "You became funnier the older you got, Alessia."

"And you are even more of an asshole. Answer me," She commanded.

"I'm not his son," Nico intervened, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm… his apprentice. I'm the Ghost King."

"Is that so?" She raised an eyebrow and look suspiciously at the two of them. "Better name than Deadpool, that's for sure," she snorted. "But you still haven't answered. _How_ are you still _alive_? I saw your head."

"Excuse _you_ , Deadpool is a fan- _fucking_ -tasic name. And not even an atomic bomb can kill me. At least not for a long time. I told you that."

"And I always thought you were just insane… Why did you come back here, Wade? Why now?"

"I need something only you can give me. And you want the money I left here, I assume that's the reason you had me killed – which, let me add, I let you do so –, but then you discovered I hid it pretty damn well and couldn't get your old, wrinkled hands on it. I don't hold a grudge, though, what's a little murder between old friends? Most of mine have tried to kill me _at least_ twice at some point. But next time please avoid the head. It messes with my sanity. Anyway, business. Yes. I need three new identities for me and one more. The whole package: Id's, passports, security cards, college degrees, birth and high school certificates, etc. Six total, mine Canadian, the other, American. And I need them fast. As old friends, I am willing to pay for them and maybe not kill you yet. I will write you down the names. I'll take care of the pictures. The usual."

Alessia looked at him right in the eyes and scrutinized him. "You are truly crazy, Wade," she sighed, letting go the breath she had been holding. "But you've always paid well. At least _most of the times_ … Tell me the names and whatever else you need. I'll have yours done first. You'll have to pay beforehand for the rest of the documents."

"Always a step ahead of you, sugar. Here," Wade handed her the crayon doodle, which in fact was a list full of names, dates and all kinds of info. "They are already separated. Mines are these three." He pointed to the bottom of the list.

"You've always had a thing for alliteration." She studied the list carefully before sighing again. She nodded. "All right. Come back next month. That's the fastest I can work. You want anything else? If you need money fast, I have some jobs for you." She got up and took a folder from one of her drawers and slid it to Wade. "This person needs a sniper. A hundred grand. I can give it to you if you want to teach your boy."

"No, thanks, that won't be necessary. Just… Hurry up with that. Let's go, kid." Wade got up and walked out of the office. Nico followed him and they hurried out of the building. "We have to go back. They will be arriving shortly."

"Wait. You have some explaining to do," Nico reached to grab Wade's arm but he avoided the touch. "Dude. You are a _mercenary_? That's why you were so quiet at dinner? What the Hades? And what's that whole deal about you being decapitated and _not dying_?"

"First of all, I'm an _ex_ -mercenary. Haven't taken a job in almost two years," Wade growled and tied the rope around himself yet once again that night. "Look, before I tell you anything, I need to speak with Spidey. Not everything, of course, but enough for us to know where we stand and what are we going to do next. You'll have to wait until then, _Ghost King_. You have to tell me about that nickname. Sounds really cool. Let's go, they will arrive at any moment. And remember. _Not. A. Word._ "

"For now, _Wade_ ," Nico said curtly, before summoning the shadows.


	4. I need a hero

They arrived to the stables mere seconds before the others. They landed just as Nico finished putting away the rope.

"You smell like blood and gunpowder. What happened to you? Your shirt… _Are those bullet holes?!_ " Peter exclaimed, running towards him and looking at Wade's back.

"I seem to attract a lot of unwanted attention. Don't worry, baby boy. I'm fine but it's way past my bedtime, can we go to see ponydude, tell him what we know and go to sleep?" Wade scratched the back of his head. Peter frowned, sensing Wade's half-truth, but he decided not to push it. Not yet, at least. "Anyway, where are we sleeping tonight?"

"There are spare rooms in the Big House, but maybe you should go to the infirmary, if you got shot..." Percy said as he guided the pegasi back into the stables.

"Nah, I'm fine. Can't say the same for the t-shirt, though." Wade chuckled and started heading to the blue house, Percy showed them to their rooms and left, murmuring about having a day off.

Chiron was waiting for them when they reached the house. With tired voices, they explained what they had discovered and, after being told that the next morning they would have to meet with the counsellors and Oracle to decide what to do, they were dismissed and shown to their room. Peter and Wade too were looking forward to sleeping; the events of the day had drained them and they were having a hard time keeping their eyes open. They striped out of their clothes and got inside the big and comfortable bed. Wade felt one of Peter's arms around his waist, pressing his muscular chest against Wade's scarred back. Wade lifted his head a little to let Peter's other arm slide beneath the crook of his neck and grabbed his hand, kissing each of Peter's knuckles. In return, Peter kissed Wade's shoulder and nuzzled against his nape. They wished each other goodnight and were out like a light a few seconds after.

Next morning came and they woke up, and got dressed quickly; Wade thanking a nymph that gave him a new orange t-shirt, and they headed towards the dining pavilion, where they sat at the same table they were the day before, a tempting, fluffy cheese, bacon and vegetables omelette waiting for them on their plates. They sat and their glasses automatically filled with black coffee for Wade and green tea for Peter. They wolfed it down, and, after they had complemented the food and receiving seconds from a blushing nymph, they followed the counsellors back to the house, where they were shown to a room with chairs around a ping-pong table. Each of the campers took a seat and motioned them to sit on the chairs that were left. Nobody said a word for a moment as they waited for Chiron, Rachel and Mr. D to arrive.

"Before this meeting begins I want you to know that last night, I allowed Percy and Nico to accompany our guests to the city and that's why they have the day off." A murmur of discomfort rose between the rest of the demigods and Chiron raised his hands to continue talking. "The reason for that was because it had to be quick. Percy is fast by air and Nico has his shadow-travelling abilities." He turned towards the masked men. "Shall I continue or would you like to explain?" When the three of them shook their head, Chiron nodded. "The group discovered that this is, in fact, not their world and today's meeting is to decide what we will do next. They expressed their wish to remain here until they can find a place to install themselves temporary until they find a way to repair their… teleporter, was it? Now, this camp is for Greek demigods only, and these men are just mere mortals. Extraordinary ones, unlike anything we've ever seen or heard, I must admit. They can see through the Mist and possess incredible abilities and our Oracle has deemed them worthy of entering, so I'll leave the decision to you, counsellors. While they debate, would you please wait outside the house?" Wade and Peter nodded and went out.

After an hour or so, they were called back. The counsellors have reached a unanimous decision. They would let them them stay. The relief in the masked men voices was almost palpable and thanked the demigods over and over. There were, nonetheless, two conditions.

"We can't let someone stay if they don't trust us." Annabeth said. "We understand about wanting to keep who you are a secret in order to protect a loved one. We all do. Each of us lie to our mortal friends and family about ourselves because we need to keep them safe. Each of us have been where you are now. The first condition is, just as we are trusting you with our home and our world, we want you to trust us with your faces," She stated, her grey eyes fixed on the trio.

"You want us to unmask ourselves," Peter said.

"Are you sure, wouldn't want to drool at my beautiful face…" Wade tried to sound nonchalant, but everyone could hear the nervousness in his voice. "All right, just… don't scream… or puke." He could feel his heart hammering on his chest and his instincts yelling, screaming for him to run as he slowly raised his trembling hands to the back of his head. He tried to control his breathing and closed his eyes as the piece of clothing fell off his face. He did not hears gasps, which encouraged him to open one eye and see that the counsellors were not looking at his with pity nor disgust, which was a relief. "This gorgeous mug you are lookin' at is the face of Wade Winston Wilson, a.k.a Deadpool."

The demigods nodded and silently waited for the other man, who breathed in deep and pulled his masks off and let it rest on his lap. He ran his fingers through his brown curls, nervous. "My name is Peter Parker… What's the second condition?"

"It's not much of a 'condition' but more like an exchange? You have amazing combat abilities and maybe even more so with weapons. We would like you to teach us some of it?" She continued and the Wade and Peter nodded after a few seconds pondering the offer.

"And as the head of the Hephaestus cabin, I offer myself to repair that thingy of yours, free of charge!" Leo exclaimed happily. "There's no machine I can't bend to my awesome will. Nor ladies." He winked and threw an arm around his girlfriend's waist. The vigilantes agreed and told the energetic teenager that they would give the teleporter to him as soon as the meeting ended.

"Any more questions?" Chiron asked."

Nobody answered.

"Thanks for letting us stay. We uh– We really appreciate it." Peter scratched the back of his head. They had trusted the demigods with their identities. Everybody started exiting the room until Leo remained and he accompanied Wade to retrieve the teleporter. The boy was thrilled.

"If you can repair it, you can build one for yourself." Wade winked as he gave him the machine. "Knock yourself out, furnace-boy," he shouted ad Leo disappeared behind a corner. "Well, cuddle pals, I'll take this as a victory. We've got jobs, a place to stay and someone who may be able to fix the source of our problem. The downside? No kinky spider sex," he whimpered dramatically.

"Also, no Ids," Peter added. "There's no way we will be able to rent a place for us nor find another job in case the kid can't take us back."

"We'll manage," Wade said dismissively, fanning his hand. He just needed to keep them in the dark for the next days about his plan and then they would be able to buy ten penthouses in the middle of Time Square if they wanted

"You still have something to tell me, Wade. Don't think for a second I didn't notice you acting weird last night." Peter put a hand on Wade's shoulder, preventing him from running off. They both knew that, if he wanted, Wade could shrug the hand off and leave, but that was not going to happen.

"I'm crazy, Peter, not stupid. I don't underestimate you, but you'll have to trust me on this one. I'll tell you when the time comes, I promise. I've got everything under control." He smiled.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Peter commented and Wade mocked hurt, clutching a hand over his chest and the other one over his forehead with the palm up. Peter rolled their eyes but decided to let him be… for now.

Between their new found job as 'trainers' for the young demigods, a month soon passed. Each of the masked duo – as they were called – had a cabin that liked them more than the others.

The Ares cabin admired Wade because of his fighting abilities and his vast knowledge about weaponry, tactics and combat. He had forgotten more about all of them that the young campers would ever know, in their own words. They also admired Wade's scars, even if he still got uncomfortable about them.

Surprisingly, Peter was the Hephaestus Cabin's favourite. They were mesmerized by his web-shooters and by the technology from Peter's world and would listen avidly when he explained his shooters' mechanics or about any of his other gadgets. _Specially_ , Harley, the youngest demigod, who seemed to have a fascination with the hero and would follow him _everywhere_ , asking questions about heroes and about his spider powers. Wherever Peter went, Harley would be like his shadow. In the end, Peter gave in and let Harley climb on his back to crawl every wall in the entire camp, which ended with an exhausted Peter and an over-excited eight year old.

A month passed meant that Wade and Nico had to return to the city.

And Wade needed to find a way to sneak out without waking Peter up but came up with none so, instead, he decided that, when the last activities for the day had finished, Wade would call Nico to his room. When the teenager arrived, he found the larger man in full gear – where he got another suit in perfect conditions, Nico was unsure of. Nico, fidgeting uncomfortably with a heavy bag on his shoulders, summoned the shadows just ad Peter entered the room, looking for him. When he saw Wade in his Deadpool suit, Wade said that it was time for him to _manage things_ and, before Peter had any chance of stopping him, he disappeared engulfed by the shadows.

As they travelled through the darkness, the voices started whispering in his mind, giving their unwanted opinions. Wade _knew_ he was going to have a fucklot of explaining to do when he got back, but hopefully, Peter wouldn't be so mad when they saw what he had done.

[Are you kidding? He will be _furious_ when he learns that our concept of "managing things" involved returning to our mercenary life and _forging_ documents.]

{Not to mention the blood money. I hate to say it, dude, but, White is right. Spidey will kick our pretty ass.]

Wade told them to suck it up and covered his ears in a failed attempt to hush his boxes.

[… We are voices _inside_ your head, remember? You can't silence us.]

"Deadpool," Nico called him from the blackness and tugged at the rope tied to his body. Wade followed it and grabbed the teenager from the shoulders as they exited the shadows, where they were received by the familiar run down building's façade. Wade untied himself and shrugged his shoulders.

"Remember what I told you last month, Ghost King? Still a great name," he snickered as they walked up to the old wooden door and knocked on it.

"Don't talk, don't look anyone in the eyes, don't embarrass you with my awesome powers. Don't let you get your ass kicked. Yeah, got it covered."

"Hey!" Wade protested but couldn't retort because the door opened and the same man they met that made the Halloween comment appeared. He yelped as he saw the ex-mercenary towering over him, armed and with a wide smile that stretched along his mask, "Well hello there, sugar buns! I'm here for the Masquerade. I used my finest rags for the occasion!" he faked a high-pitch, happy voice as he pushed the door open and entered the dark hallway. His boots echoed on the place as he headed towards the end of the corridor and into the open room. He stopped in the threshold and put his hand on his hips as every voice faded and everybody turned to see Wade, with their mouths dry as they recognized, not the mask of the man some of them had shot at the previous week but also, now looking at him in his suit, they recognized the man of the legends that circled in the underground circles.

"The Unkillable Killer… I told you he was alive… The Merc with a Mouth… So it was really him last week… The Crimson Comedian… I thought he was just a weirdo trying to get free drinks, but that suit… I thought he was just a myth…" hushed voices whispered among themselves, overlapping each other as they looked at the man standing at the entrance of the room.

"You finally showed up, Deadpool." Alessia was sitting at the bar, a glass of whisky resting before her. "Come to my office. Now." Wade crossed the room and strolled behind her, with Nico at his side looking at his feet. They trailed along the thin lady until they reached the office, where a thick bundle of papers lay on the middle off the desk. "Six sets, Deadpool. The price has doubled since you left."

"Love the way you lie, my dear." Wade nodded to Nico, who passed the backpack over to him and started taking some big rolls of money out of it. Peter would _kill_ him when he discovered Wade not only had money stashed in one of his pouches but also that he spent it on the documents. But just before he handed over, Wade threw the money over her shoulder, way out of Alessia's reach and unsheathed his katanas and pressed the sharp blades against her neck. Her lower back was pressed against her desk. "Tell the gunmen behind that door to put their guns away before I paint this entire building red. You know what I'm capable of and you know I don't stay dead. Unlike you." His voice was low, dangerous. Nico felt a cold shiver running down his back as he tasted the sheer bloodlust and raw danger that flooded out of the ex-mercenary. He never saw the ex-mercenary move. "You fooled me once, Alessia. No more games. I brought enough money to pay for these and that's just it. Give the boy the papers and we'll leave everybody alive."

The woman looked into the white of this mask for a few seconds before shouting: "Back off, guys! Now!" The faint sound of footsteps faded into the distance. Alessia reached blindly behind her back and grabbed the documents. "Take them, kid." Nico hurried and took the papers, putting them inside the bag and returned to the spot behind Wade, far enough to be out of the katanas' reach.

As soon as Nico was behind him, Wade's entire demeanour changed. He took his swords away from her at an incredibly fast and his creepy, dangerous smile into a cheery one. "I love making business with you, sweet cheeks. Let's go, kid." He left the money on the rugged floor and started skipping towards the door, his swords still in his hands and the teenager right behind him.

It was a funny and terrifying view, but it served its purpose. No one dared to lift a finger against them as they exited the building.

Once they were out of the perimeter, Wade sheathed his katanas and sighed. "It went better than expected," he breathed a laugh. "Pass the rope, kid."

"Don't call me 'kid'. I have a name." Nico grunted as he took the cord out of the bag and tossed one of its ends. They both started to tie it around their bodies in almost silence. Wade hummed a tune Nico didn't recognize as he knotted his rope.

A scream made them jump off their skin and they turned to see a young woman being dragged inside a dark alley by a group of men. Wade frowned and unsheathed his katanas and started running in her direction, bringing Nico along because they were still tied together. Without looking, Wade swiftly cut the knot on his waist and stood on the entrance of the alley. "You know, you should always buy a lady dinner and have her consent before getting kinky." Wade's voice boomed and startled the attackers, who had a knife against the woman's throat and her chest was exposed, her clothes having been cut. She was crying and begged Wade for help. He was happy to comply.

"Who the fuck are you, freak? Guys." The one who was holding the knife snapped his free fingers and the other three men charged towards Wade. He told Nico to step aside as he wielded his katanas. Even Nico, with his fast reflexes, had a lot of trouble keeping up with the speed Wade moved. The attackers did not have time to react before their hands fell off their arms and blood tainted the already sticky walls of the alley. They could not stop him before he buried his swords deep in their bodies, purposely missing vital organs and arteries and, in the blink of an eye, Wade did the same to the man holding the woman. Wade used one of the men's shirt to clean his swords before sheathing them again.

His voice was soft as he held a hand towards her and waited for her to take it. "You are safe now. Do you live near here?" She nodded and took his hand with trembling pulse. "Would you like me to take you there?" She nodded again and laced her arm in Wade's. He started whispering soothing words to her and motioned Nico to follow them. They walked for a few minutes before reaching an apartment building. "Call 911 and tell them what happened."

He let her go but before he could turn around and leave, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She was crying. "Thank you," she repeated over and over again. Wade froze, unsure of what to do until Nico motioned him to return the hug. He ran his scarred hand through her head until she calmed down bit. "Can I ask your name?" She wiped the last of her tears with her hands.

"Deadpool, now go rest." He smiled and waited until she was inside the building before turning to face the teenager, who looked at him with a mixture of emotions.

Wade grabbed the rope and tied it again. He did not hum.


	5. Shedding Light

As soon as Wade and Nico stepped out of the shadows in the older man's room, Wade found himself webbed against the wall and a very angry looking Peter standing before him, arms crossed and lips pursued.

" _Where_ were you? I was worried sick!" Wade was in deep, deep shit.

{We are in soooo much trouble.}

[Spidey's gonna kill us. And once we come back, he will kill us again.]

"Yeah, you should see the other guys. There was this damsel in distress and I couldn't ignore a plea for help and then–"

"Wade!" Peter barked.

"I went to a place from my old line of work, baby boy," Wade said, defeated. He averted his eyes and looked at the ceiling. "I needed to confirm one thing and I asked Nico to take me there. And I told him not to say a word until I could find a better way to tell you this, but the cat's out of the bag now, so fuck it." Wade made a short pause before continuing. "I've been in this world before... Way before I met you." Wade sighed and shifted his gaze toward the teenager shuffling awkwardly in a corner of the room, looking extremely uncomfortable. "Hey, kid, give Petey the package, please."

Nico frowned. "I told you. Don't call me 'kid'." He still knelled down and took the bundle of brown envelopes out of the bag and walked over the trio.

"Thank you, Nico." Peter took the three of them and smiled. "Go before someone finds you."

"Good thing I'm the best at hiding." Nico smirked and disappeared once more in the shadows.

"What are these, Wade?" Peter asked , looking at the envelopes. Peter took one of them and opened it. Inside were a bunch of papers with different sizes and thickness. He picked one randomly and took it out but he paled when he recognized what it was. "What… THIS is what ' _manage things_ ' meant? You _forged_ documents?" He was incredulous, livid as he ran through all the documents. Wade gulped and tried to break the webs holding his arms. "Do you have _any_ ide– Of course you have, there are _three_ for each and–"

"Breathe, Petey… I need my Id to access fully to my account. I left some money here, y'know? In case I needed to come back someday. And we did, kinda. We are stuck here until further notice and neither of us have any papers on us and–" Wade shrugged his shoulders the best he could, given his limited mobility "–… I don't know… That night I didn't thought they would let us stay; much less be offered a job. I was planning to get us a place to live until we could go back. With a great bed and a nice couch for me. I was trying to help," he sighed and dropped his head.

They remained silent for a while, trying to process what Wade had just said.

"You will have to explain everything to Chiron in the morning." Peter was the first one to break the uncomfortable silence. "And it'd better be the biggest bed on the store." He scoffed. "Don't get me wrong, I'm mad at you, Wade and you will be sleeping in the couch for the next four months, both here _and_ in our universe. Besides, there's nothing we can do about this now, can we? It's been a long day for everybody. Let's sleep and–" Peter yawned. "– we'll look at the papers in the morning."

Peter unwebbed his very imprudent -considered, yes, but extremely imprudent- boyfriend from the wall and went to sleep. It was a restless sleep for all of them.

The next morning, they were woken up by Chiron, who called them for breakfast and told them to meet him and the counsellors right afterwards at the Big House. At the dinning pavilion, the duo followed the campers example and left a piece of their food to throw it to the fire, each of them offering it to a different god.

"There's something I would like to show all you," Chiron announced as he entered the room, a remote in hand and turned the TV on and switched to a news channel. His tone was serious. "It's been on every channel for the last couple of hours."

"… _still no information about the masked man who saved this woman last night other than his name, nor about the teenager that accompanied him,"_ the reporter was saying, describing the events in front of a familiar looking alley. Both Wade and Nico paled. " _The attackers, with a long criminal record for harassment and sexual assault, were taken to the nearest hospital accompanied by police officers. The four men are missing both of their hands and presenting deep stab wounds, though none of them were lethal. The victim stated that the man, who called himself Deadpool, used a pair of katanas. Any information about this masked vigilante, please call-"_ Chiron turned the TV off, and turned to look at them with a serious look on his face. The rest of the counsellors talked in hushed voices. Wade avoided the centaur's gaze, and looked down as he felt Peter's eyes on him.

Jason was frowning deeply. "What were you doing there?"

"It's not my place to talk about it," Nico replied, hunching his shoulders as he fixed his gaze on Wade. All eyes followed him and waited. The older man shrugged and shifted uncomfortably on his seat before he turned to Chiron, who was looking at him with interest, and to the counsellors, who looked at him expectantly.

"I think it's high time you tell us who you really are, Wade" Chiron's stern voice echoed in the silent room. "It's been a month and you are still the only one who wouldn't talk about his job back where you two come from. You possess very unique abilities unlike anything any of us have seen in our lives and your knowledge in weaponry vastly surpass that of any children of Ares, which says a lot."

Wade sighed and, when he talked, his voice was almost a whisper. "You may not like the answer. It's not a really nice story... If you don't want to hear this, now's the time to get out of here." When nobody moved a muscle, Wade sighed. "Before I start, I need you to promise that what I'm about to tell you will not leave these walls. You want answers, I need you to keep it a secret, at least for now. Do we have a deal?" He looked each of the demigods on the eye until he reached to the centaur. For a few moments, nobody said a word. Then Nico raised his head and spoke:

"I swear it on the Styx." His voice was serious. After him, each of the counsellors swore on the same river, albeit some of them rather reluctantly.

"I swear it on the Styx. For the Greek, there's nothing more binding that a promise on the river Styx." This was a talk he was not ready to have yet. He tried to swallow the lump on his throat.

"Back home I was the world's most skilled mercenary." Everybody tensed at the last word, their eyes turning cautious. "Like I said, I've been in this universe before. Fifteen years ago, I think, when I was just starting my life as Deadpool. I came for a job and stayed for a couple of months before going back. Made a name of myself in the underground circles." He laughed humourlessly. "Last month, after our little trip to Queens, Nico took me to the place I used to take jobs at and we ran into an old friend of mine, sweet old lady called Alessia Serrano. One of the most powerful people in the crime circles... You don't want to cross her."

"Alessia? The one who... chopped your head off?" Peter asked cautiously. Wade nodded.

"Questions at the end of the tour, baby boy, but yes. The same one. The thing is, before I left the first time, I put some of my money on a secret account, in case I needed to come back here someday. I was sloppy and she found out bout the money and had me 'killed', but she never found the account. And since we came here without any ID, and because she's the best at forging documents, I went to her in order to obtain new identities for the two of us and get some of the money back so we can rent a place until my teleporter is repaired and bring us back to _our_ New York. That was, until you guys came and offered us a place to stay and a job, which neither of us can thank you enough –besides, neither of you puked when you saw my face, which I really appreciate–. And last night, after we got those documents and left the building, we heard the scream and the news were pretty much self-explanatory." No sooner had Wade finished talking that everybody started bombarding him with tons of questions at the same time, overlapping each other until Chiron raised his hands and calmed them down enough to convince the demigods to ask their questions one by one.

"Is that why you got shot last month?" Leo asked first and shrugged his shoulders. "We all saw the t-shirt."

"Yeah. Sorry about the tee, guys. They were aiming both of us. I made sure the kid didn't get hurt. Whatever they put on the food here helped boosting my healing factor so I was back up in less than three minutes, no biggie."

"Did he just said that you got your head cut off?" Will asked incredulously.

"Fortunately before burying me, the idiots threw the head close enough to my body so I didn't need to grow a new one. One could think you get used to being decapitated with time. Wrong. It still hurts like hell and it messes with your mental stability. I remember this time..."

"Why aren't you dead then?" Percy asked, confused.

"Because I always come back. Can't stay dead very long, but that's a story for maybe another day. Any question that does not involve my deaths, my healing factor nor how I got the 'Ryan Reynold mauled by a sharpei' look?"

"If you were a mercenary, why didn't you kill those pieces of garbage? What's your body count and how much did you make?" Clarisse asked. "What? I'm curious. And so are all of you." she defended herself when the other demigods looked at her scornfully.

"Spidey–" Wade pointed at the brunet– "didn't like it when I killed so I stopped doing it. Now I'm a weapon consultant and do the occasional rescue mission but I haven't taken any hardcore mercenary job in almost two years. And about questions two and three; it's high enough to match the population of a small country." He laced his hands behind his head and reclined a little bit more on his chair. The demigods shivered, some even cursed under their breaths. "I was the best, so they paid whatever the hell I told them to. A hundred grand was, like, the least I charged but it always depended on the job. Sometimes they paid millions to have me unalive someone, other times they were shady rescue missions or some government's dirty work. In the time I stay here I made one or two billion bucks." The campers were gaping. "I had limits, though. I never hurt children nor did I take jobs involving children or pregnant women." He frowned a little bit.

"So, you are like a billionaire?"

"More like a gazillionaire, if we take into account all the money I've made in every universe I've taken jobs at. I could probably buy the entire planet, if I felt like it," he commented lightly, picking the dirt under his nails.

"Why a mercenary, though?" Asked Annabeth, bringing the conversation back to the serious mood. "I assume you knew about his… line of work? And you were okay with that?

"Back home everyone knows about Deadpool and his… abilities. No, I was not okay with him being a mercenary. Killing is never the answer. Much less if he got money out of it. It took me a long time and work for him to realise that it was wrong and for him to decide to leave that life on his own." Peter smiled gently and placed a hand on Wade's shoulder. "I know it wasn't an easy choice, but he has come a long way since then."

"You didn't answer my question, Wade. Why a mercenary?" She repeated dryly.

"I heard you the first time, I'm just ignoring it. Origin stories are sooooooo boring!" Wade whined, but one look from everyone sobered him up a little. "Look, bub… Man, I sound like Logan. _Gross._ Anyway. Origin story, yes. No. Just like my face, it's not pretty and it's better off hidden away where people can't scream because of it. Or puke. Or cry, okay?" Wade's breathing hitched and became slightly shallow. "But then again, I showed you my face and neither of you did what people normally do so I could give it a chance?" In that moment, the voices decided to give their, once again, unwanted opinion, very harshly. He whined at the snarls inside his mind. "… Maybe they will not run away, White, maybe they will be like baby-boy…"

[Do you really think so? He must laugh at you behind your back. He feels relieved when you go away and you don't taint his life with your ugly soul.]

{Spidey hates us, idiot. And the campers will hate us too when we tell them everything. They are disgusted to see the kind of monster they've let inside this place and will be even more disgusted when they learn about what a sick piece of shit we are.}

"I hate it when you two team up, you know that? I used to like you better, Yellow." He got up clumsily and stumbled out of the room.

[You are such a coward. Fleeing when things start to get slightly difficult? No wonder why nobody likes you.]

"I'm _not_ a coward! Stop lying!"

{What are you gonna do? Kill yourself? We all know you are dumb enough to never stay down. And that when you are back, so we will. Besides, you will only make Petey sadder. He will suffer because of you. You can't do anything right, can you, Wade? What do you think everyone will think of you when you blow your brains out in the hallway?]

"I haven't shoot myself in months! I… I don't need to do that anymore… P-Peter…" Wade could feel tears burning their way down his cheeks…

[He is _way_ better off without you. You don't deserve to be his soulmate. You should have let him be happy on his own. If it weren't for you, he wouldn't be trapped in an alternate universe, where he has absolutely no one but _your filthy company_. It's all your fault!]

"STOP IT. PLEASE!" Wade cried. He hated this. He covered his ears even though he knew it was useless, the voices kept screaming, throwing insult after insult, reminding Wade of every mistake he had made throughout the years and how much better the world could be if he could die and stay like that. He was slowly losing a battle he hadn't fought alone in a very long time. Peter had always been at his side and helped him when the voices got aggressive.

But now he was mad at Wade. Wade was all alone. And when Wade was alone, there was only one course of acting. Wade took out a knife out of his pocket swung it down, aiming for his heart, figuring it would be an almost immediate death.

But the blow never reached, because a pair of hands grabbed his arm firmly.

"Stop, Wade. Look at me." It was Peter. He let go of his arm and placed his hands on Wade's cheeks, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. "Whatever they are saying, they are lying, Wade. You are stronger than the voices." Peter pressed his forehead to Wade's as he kept caressing his cheeks and whispering words of encouragement to his boyfriend. I'm here for you." Peter gently took the knife from Wade's hand and set it aside. He kissed the scarred hand and intertwined their fingers. "Please, don't keep your pain to yourself. I love you, Wade. Even though you find it hard to believe sometimes. The universe decided that the two of us complemented each other. Yes, you may get me on my nerves sometimes, and I might press you too hard into staying on path and be the hero I know you can be but, at the end of the day… I wouldn't change this for anything." Peter touched their soul marks, they had each other's names on their chests, right above their hearts, and pressed a small kiss to Wade's temple. "Let's stay here until you are ready to go back, alright?"

Wade took a deep breath and stood up. He helped Peter on his feet and hugged him tightly, thanking and kissingkissing. He smiled shyly and they walked back to the room where the demigods were waiting.

"Sorry about before, guys… White and Yellow were being mean to lil' ol' me." He sat in his chair and scratched the back of his head, laughing humourlessly. "They weren't always here though." He taps the side of his head. "Look, I'm going to do something I never do and it's to be completely honest right now, okay? Only the governments have access to the details and I will tell you what I've only told two other people before." Wade breathed in deep and looked at Peter for support. He was scared. Peter placed a hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze. "I won't bore you with the story of lil' Wade Wilson, whose mom died of cancer and became drunk daddy's punching bag. I joined the army as soon as I came of age and stayed for a couple of years until I received momma's last gift in my brain. It kinda went downhill from there." Wade bit his chapped lips and took another deep breath. Peter started rubbing his arm in a soothing manner. "I received a call from Department K, a secret paramilitary research facility whose existence was a secret even for my own government. They said they would get rid of the cancer. They told me they could cure me. _Not-at-all-Fun fact_ : Terminal diseases and the prospect of imminent Death make you whacky on the head and throw every last bit of common sense out of the window… I believed them. And I signed up for the Weapon X Program." Wade started trembling as his pulse quickened. As a gun-for-hire, Deadpool had committed the most horrible and gruesome murders, but none of his jobs could compare, even remotely, to everything Wade Wilson had seen and lived during his time at the Hospice. The flashbacks and nightmares still haunted him in his sleep.

The atmosphere in the room was deadly tense and the temperature dropped several degrees. The demigods listened attentively to Wade's story with a heavy feeling on their stomachs as they watched the shift in the older man's demeanour.

"You can guess what happened after that." Wade continued after a pause that lasted few minutes. "They tortured and experimented on me. They injected me with mutated blood in order to cause a reaction. Something went wrong, because they gave me not only my super healing factor but also they gave me super cancer. They are constantly fighting and that's the reason I look like I do. They also discovered that my healing factor was powerful enough to bring me back from the dead. It didn't matter how many times they shot, stabbed, electrocuted or poisoned me. I always came back after a while. They made me explode once or twice, when they thought I was talking too much." Peter let go of his arm and held his hand, making circles with his thumb, letting Wade know that he was there. He knew how difficult it was for his boyfriend to talk about the Hospice. "Memory's a little bit fuzzy at this point. One can only have his brains blown out so many times before it starts affecting the long term memory. That's where the voices came into the picture, I call them White and Yellow… But what I do remember was the Death Pool, the betting system the doctors had where they bet which of the patients would die first. Whoever bet for me lost a shitton of money. I also remember that there was a fire (which I provoked) and that I escaped; but not before I had killed every single guard, doctor and nurse… the other patients. Some were unconscious when I snapped their necks but the others–" Wade scoffed, his voice was broken. "–the others were _thankful_. The place burned to the ground and I became a mercenary in order to look for the rest of the bastards that created the program. They killed Wade Wilson but they created Deadpool. Two entities, one deformed body." Wade's voice was low, almost like a growl but almost immediately he gave a cheery laugh and clapped his hands. "And there you have it, Deadpool's origin story. Now, any question?"

"Why kill the patients?" One of the counsellors inquired. She was frowning deeply. "Why not escaping _with_ them?"

"Mercy, sweetheart. In that place, they brought us to the brink of death _every single day_ , for _years_. Not just physically, but also emotionally. Most of them saw their soulmates die in front of them… Just to cause a reaction." The demigods gasped and Wade noted they brought their hands to their wrists and clasped them tightly.

"But… how did they find the patients soulmates?" The same counsellor asked.

"They just looked at the name in their bodies and that was it..." Wade took a deep breath before continuing. "I gave them a quick and painless death, and maybe the chance to see their loved ones again."

The mere thought of losing that person was unbearable and the demigods looked down to their feet. They stayed silent for a few long minutes before ending the meeting and leaving to busy their minds with the activities for the day, leaving the two men alone in the big room.


	6. A hero's choice

They then read each paper carefully and when they agreed that they were _as good as_ legit ones, Wade and Peter went to the city to have their pictures taken for the documents and Ids. When they went to the bank to reactivate and withdraw money from Wade's account, the lady at the desk looked at him warily but asked no further questions when Wade passed all of the security measures and protocols. He was given a debit and a credit card with extensions of each for Peter and after withdrawing some cash for personal use, they took a taxi and headed to Queens, bought two new phones and cheered when they discovered that the Mexican restaurant they usually went to back in _their_ Queens was also in this one. They stopped there for lunch and discussed what they should do next.

"There's no guarantee they will let us stay. At least _me,_ " Wade said as he stuffed yet another burrito into his mouth. "No one wants a mercenary under their roof, not even _former_ ones so why bother coming back? Maybe this way they will hurry and repair the teleporter so they can kick us out of these universe and hang a 'No Deadpools allowed'. It wouldn't be the first time I've been banned from an _entire fucking universe_."

"We don't know that yet, Wade." Peter shook his head and took another bite of his quesadilla. "And even if they don't want nothing with us, we still owe them for the time they let us stay with them. After all, they gave us place to stay and food. We _have to repay them._ " Wade grumbled something unintelligible as he chewed his food but to Peter, it sounded like an agreement. "Chiron said we should go back for dinner, so we have until then to look for a place for us. How about we go to our street and see what's there for sale once we finish lunch?" Peter offered and took a sip of his beer, smiling when Wade's eyes darted to meet his and a huge grin appeared on the older man's face, pieces of chewed meat and vegetables falling onto his plate. Peter scrunched his nose up in amused disgust at the sight.

"You surely know what to say to make a lady fall for you, Mr. Parker." They finished their lunch and decided to walk to their "old" street. It was a forty minutes walk – and just five minutes when swinging, which they spent bantering and trying to guess how different the movies could be in this universe and if they should check them out - they'd definitely do it. They tried not to get their hopes up. "Their" house could not be for sale or could simply not exist at all.

The first thing they noted when they got to their street was that it was different from the one they had lived at. There were a couple more buildings next to the houses and the fenced looked a bit duller than the ones they knew, but the similarities hit them hard and they felt a wave of nostalgia pooling on their hearts.

Their house was still in the middle but this time, a building towered over it, casting a shadow over the brick walls. A big sign read "For Sale" in the front lawn. Peter called it fate, Wade "Writer convenience", but started dialling the number written on the sign as he laced his fingers with the hero. He didn't wait for the voice at the other side of the line to finish greeting him, he outright asked for the price of the house and that he would offer a 25% more if they could sign the papers in the next two hours. By the time the previous owners of the house and the real estate agent arrived with the contract, Wade had already ordered all the furniture and appliances and had payed extra for everything to arrive before six.

At five thirty, Peter and Wade had closed the front door and slid to the wooden floor, surrounded by piles of boxes, with Wade sitting on Peter's lap, holding each other tightly. They both knew they were just putting on a pretty band-aid over their wound. This place looked like their house but it _was not their home_.

"We need to go back to the camp, Wade." Peter drew circles on Wade's back the entire time and trailed kisses from his neck to his shoulder reassuringly. "It's almost dinner time and we need to get to Long Island in thirty minutes so Jason and Percy can pick us up." Wade just nodded but refused to get up.

"Going back means I have to face everyone's rejection and I'd rather pass on that. Thank you very much. We should go on patrol tonight, y'know? Like the old times." He threaded his fingers through Peter's soft hair.

"Wade…"

"I'm serious, baby boy. You _need_ it."

"We'll talk about this later, okay? We need to get going and we _can't_ swing there." Peter patted Wade's thighs and urged him to get up. Wade pouted but got on his feet and helped his spider up. They locked the door behind them and headed to the avenue, where they hailed a taxi. The driver was more than excited to take them to Long Island. Wade and him soon engaged in a conversation where both of them talked and none of them listened to the other during most part of the trip. Peter looked at the buildings out the window, thinking about Wade's words from earlier. He sighed. Yeah, he missed the rush of adrenaline every time he jumped off the rooftops and the wind roaring on his ears as he swung across the streets.

He could feel the itch beneath his skin, the one that yearned for his hero job.

No sooner had he finished that thought that his spider-sense triggered and made Peter instinctively grab Wade's arm and push themselves to the floor while yelling "Get down!" to the driver. The windows got smashed and glass flew everywhere; they hissed and cursed loudly as the shards pierced their skin.

Forceful arms grabbed and threw them out of the car and onto the asphalt. Peter jumped back on his feet and took a look at their attacker. There were two of them. From the waist up, they had the face and torso of strikingly beautiful women, but instead of legs, they had two long serpent tails. They hissed and lunged forward, their swords raised.

"Where are the demigods?!" they hissed, extending the 's' sound.

Wade was standing in a second, his katanas unsheathed and blocked the serpent-women blows with them. He rapidly went to the offensive. They had attacked Peter! He would send them back to Tartarus in the most painful way. He moved quickly, throwing blow after blow to the monsters, but they were fast and nimble, always moving away from his blades at the last second.

"Deadpool!" Peter shot his head up in time to look Nico and Lou Ellen emerging from a dark alley. He did not have his web-shooters nor any kind of weapon with him and since the monsters were focused on his boyfriend, he run up to the demigods and explained what had happened.

Nico nodded and started running towards Wade as he shouted, "Lou Ellen! Make sure the Mist covers us!" She nodded and motioned Peter to come next to her as they scanned their surroundings, making sure there were no more monsters before the flicked her wrists and distorted the area around them so that mortals saw anything else but the battle Wade and Nico were currently engaged in. Peter couldn't help but admire the way both of them moved, synchronized, anticipating each other's movements and not getting in each other's way as they lunged at the monsters.

Suddenly, taking advantage of an opening, Wade used both of his katanas to pin one of the monsters down and took a bronze blade from the inside of his boot and buried it on the creature's eye socket. The serpent-woman screeched as she turned into dust under Wade's hands. He stomped on the pile to scatter it in the wind and prevent them from regenerating anytime soon, just as the demigods had explained to him.

He then turned to the other monster just as she went berserk and started slashing at him erratically. Wade found himself struggling to block and return the blows at the same time that two more monsters appeared and started attacking Nico. They were eight foot tall with heavily tattooed arms and pointy yellow teeth. They wore leather armour and iron clubs.

"Laistrygonian Giants! _Styx_!" Lou Ellen cursed. "Peter, we have to move fast. I'll take you to the camp and I'm bringing back reinforcements." She did not wait for Peter to answer, she invoked more Mist and opened a portal and pushed Peter inside. In less than a minute, they appeared on the Blue House, where she left him and ran towards the cabins and looked for Percy and Jason. "We were ambushed. There were Scythian Dracanae and Laistrygonian Giants waiting for us at the meeting point," she explained as she, once again, opened a portal. She grabbed both demigods by the arms and let the Mist envelope them. "Nico and Deadpool are battling but they won't last long if we don't hurry." Just before the portal closed behind them, they could hear Peter's voice calling them, asking them to wait.

They landed in the exact same spot she and Peter had disappeared from… Just in time to see Wade jumping in front of Nico and taking the Scythian Dracanae's sword instead. Wade went limp in a matter of seconds and the monster, sneering, threw his body to the Giants. Percy ran towards Nico, Riptide in hand, and slashed at the monster, giving Nico time to get up and start attacking at the same time. The serpent-woman found herself at disadvantage, fighting two children of the Eldest Gods at the same time. Nico killed her by decapitating her.

Jason and Lou Ellen went straight for the Giants, who were… _Oh Gods_ , they had teared the ex-mercenary's limbs and took a bite out of them, but scrunched their faces in disgust. They raised their clubs and brought them down on the fallen man. Jason gagged at not only the sight but to the sound of the clubs hitting flesh, the splashing of blood and the strong scent of _death_. The son of Jupiter readied his gladius and lunged forward, the air filled with electricity. He summoned a storm and when the monsters looked up, startled by the sudden thunders, he struck one of the monster's down in one swift motion.

The last Giant tried to run away when he realised the battle would be four against one. He did not get very far. The wind howled as it dispersed the piles of dust.

The four of them stood there, their breathing ragged, as they look at the puddle of blood, flesh and bones they had shared breakfast with that same morning. They looked at each other and started discussing in hushed voices what they should do with the body. They would not leave it there, that was for sure but… Should they take it back to camp and burn it? He had died protecting Nico. He had had a hero's death. They remembered Wade's words from the previous night. He could not die. They had seen him regrow his limbs, sure. But they had a hard time believing that he could just _come back from the dead_ like it was an everyday occurrence.

Above all, they discussed who would tell Peter about this.

In the end, they decided to travel through the Mist, each of them taking as many pieces of the ex-mercenary's body as possible. They appeared on the farthest corner of the infirmary, and placed the bloody remains on one of the beds and asked one of the satyrs to fetch Will. The harpies would have a fit cleaning the sheets.

Will came as soon as he could and listened to the group's story and grimaced when they showed him Wade's remains. He quickly but thoroughly checked and bandaged their wounds and sent them to have showers before reporting this to Chiron. They left at once but on the way back they ran into a distressed Peter who demanded to know what had happened. They looked at each other before having Nico explain the situation.

"He saved my life but…" Nico trailed off, unsure of how to say what he needed to say.

"He died." Peter was not asking. The four demigods nodded. Peter ran his hands through his hair, clearly distressed. "...Did you bring all of him?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper. When they nodded, the young man walked past through them and barged into the infirmary, startling the young son of Apollo. He tried to shield the sight from Peter but Peter shove him aside, always minding his super-strength. "Please draw the curtains… Wade hates to be seen when he regenerates."

"Peter…" Will wanted to explain that it would be futile. The man was _dead_ , his soul was already in the Underworld and, no matter how much Wade had claimed he could come back, the rules here were different. The Doors of Death were closed and Hades would _never_ let a soul go back. _Not even his daughter's was allowed to return_ , he thought with a frown.

"He's coming back, Will… He has to…" Peter whispered and turned to grab a nearby chair and draw the curtains himself. "He'll be back tomorrow," he said, mostly to himself. Peter stared at the bloodied mass with a throbbing pain in his chest as he carefully started placing the severed limbs on their rightful places. Wade's regeneration would be hard and painful as it was _without_ having to regrow existing, albeit battered, parts of him. He tried his best not to think about what would happen if this time was different from the others. Wade died more often than not back in their universe.

" _But this is not your universe, isn't it? Here gods are real, not aliens. Maybe the curse placed on Wade doesn't work here…_ " a voice in his head muttered darkly. " _No, no, no, no, Peter. Breathe in deep, not too deep though._ " The bitter smell of iron burned his lungs and made his stomach churn uneasily as he tried to calm himself. It took him longer than planned, but after two hours, he grabbed a wet towel and cleaned the red of his hands before sighing a long sigh. He sat on the chair and pulled it next to the crimson bed, ready to wait whatever amount of time Wade needed…

He must have fallen asleep, because a rustling sound made his senses come to life and his first reaction was to feel around for Wade, the sticky feeling of the blood soaked blankets reminding him once again of the mess that had been Wade.

His eyes didn't really want to open, he didn't want to see the bloodied chaos, but the fact that his spider-sense did not trigger told him that there was no danger, so it gave him hope. Hope that it was finally Wade waking up.

Still, Peter could not help but hesitate before he opened his eyes. Straightening his back, he slowly lifted his eyelids and, looking from the corner of his eyes, checked the bed for motion, fearing he would be faced with a bloody mess that had not healed.

"Baby boy," a croaked voice called, "somebody better call God and tell him he's missing an angel." Peter tried not to groan with all his might, he really did. He failed miserably.

He laughed and buried his face in the crook of Wade's neck, hugging him tightly. He laughed until tears fell from his eyes and then he began sobbing. He did not realise how afraid he was until that very moment, when Wade draped an arm clumsily around Peter's shoulders. He paid no attention to the sticky blood seeping through his clothes, lost in the relief of having his soulmate back with him. "God you are so cheesy," he hiccuped. He could feel Wade's pulse on his neck and moved his lips to press them against the soft, bumpy skin.

After a few minutes, when he had cried most of his anxiety and fear out, Peter was calm enough to disentangle from Wade and grab more towels and water. He tapped the damped fabric gently across his body, carefully washing the dried brown blood away.

"... You got me scared for a while," Peter confessed when he threw the last towel into the reddish water.

"Petey…" Wade struggled to press his hand gently on the brunet's cheek, his body ached in four different ways in a million different places. "Not even the Fates would keep me away from you. You are stuck with me until the end of times." He flashed Peter his cheekiest grin, causing his lips to chap and his skin to break -it healed almost instantly but still hurt like hell.

Peter shook his head and got up to stretch his cramped muscles. He drew the curtains and let the moonlight filter through one of the many windows, caressing Wade's face. "Do you want to spend the night here on the infirmary?" Wade shook his head. "Then we'll have to be quick because your clothes were reduced to smithereens and I don't have any spares with me right now." _And I'm not letting you out of my sight again_ , he thought.

He made sure the place was completely empty before he helped Wade sit up on the edge of the bed and his heart dropped every time Wade let out a pained groan. Ignoring his boyfriend's lewd comments with a roll of his eyes he sat between Wade's legs and wrapped them around his waist and his shoulders around his neck. Making full use of his enhanced strength, Peter got up and gave a piggy-back ride to his naked boyfriend like he weighed less than a feather. He carefully opened the door and stealthily sprinted upstairs until they were inside their room. He tried to place Wade on the bed but the ex-mercenary tightened his grip on Peter. "Wade. Let me go." Wade shook his head and placed a kiss on Peter's nape, sending shivers down his spine. "Wade…" He shook his head again. "Either you go to bed like a good boy or I'm taking you back to the infirmary."

"You wouldn't dare," Wade said against Peter's nape.

"Try me." They both knew we was not being serious, but Wade still let go of Peter, who quickly turned and tucked him in before undressing and getting into bed too. He snuggled against the other man and rested his head on Wade's chest, hearing with content his strong heartbeat. They fell asleep in each other's arms.


End file.
